Development of the TIP-HOLE gas avalanche structure for nuclear physics/astrophysics applications with radioactive isotope beams: preliminary results

We discuss the operational principle and performance of new micro-pattern gaseous detectors based on the multi-layer Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (M-THGEM) concept coupled to a needle-like anode. The new gas avalanche structure aims at high-gain operation in nuclear physics and nuclear astrophy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of physics. Conference series Vol. 1498; no. 1; pp. 12004 - 12011
Main Authors Randhawa, J.S., Cortesi, M., Mittig, W., Wierzbicki, T., Gomez, A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bristol IOP Publishing 01.04.2020
Subjects
Anodes
Area
Astrophysics
Avalanches
Circuit boards
Electric fields
Gas detectors
High gain
Multilayers
Nuclear astrophysics
Nuclear physics
Photomultiplier tubes
Physics
Radioisotopes
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Summary:We discuss the operational principle and performance of new micro-pattern gaseous detectors based on the multi-layer Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (M-THGEM) concept coupled to a needle-like anode. The new gas avalanche structure aims at high-gain operation in nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics applications with radioactive isotope beams. It is thereafter named TIP-HOLE gas amplifier, and consists of a THGEM or a two-layers M-THGEM mounted in a WELL configuration. The avalanche electrodes are collected by thin conductive needles (with up to a few ten μm radius and a height of 100 μm), located at the center of the hole and acting as a point-like anode. The bottom area of the needle could be surrounded by a cylindrical cathode strip in order to increase the electron collection efficiency. The electric field lines from the drift region above the M-THGEM are focused into the holes, and then forced to converge on the needle tip. An extremely high field is reached at the top of the needle, creating a point-like avalanche process. Stable, high-gain operations in a wide range of pressures can be achieved at relatively low operational voltage, even in pure quencher gas at atmospheric pressure (e.g. pure isobutene). The TIP-HOLE structure may be produced by the innovative scalable additive manufacturing technology for large-area, multiple-layer printed circuit boards, recently developed by the UHV technology company (USA) and discussed for the first time in this work.
ISSN:1742-6588
1742-6596
DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/1498/1/012004